demolition fees by city

By BETH LAKEY

Staff Writer

Feb. 14, 2001 10 PM

Property owners whose buildings were demolished by the city of Troy will now have that money assessed to their property taxes.

Tuesday night, the Troy City Council voted to turn collection of the money over to the Revenue Commission Office, which serves as Pike County’s tax collector.

Action taken by the council was made possible when it adopted Article 2 of the Code of Alabama, which outlines how municipalities can remove unsafe buildings.

First, the city must determine the structure unsafe and send notification to the owner.

If the property owner does not respond to the letter or file a written appeal within 30 days upon notice, the city can raze the building and assess the cost against the property. That money is collected by the Pike County revenue commissioner just like an ad valorem tax and will be remitted to the city of Troy. City officials also post a notice on the structure within three days of the notice.

Since turning the state authority into action, several structures have been removed in the city limits. And, cost for the removal of the buildings, which can not exceed $7,500, is assessed to the property owner’s taxes.

Council President John Witherington said this is the "final step" of the process, during which some owners took care of the problems themselves.

Following are the properties and owners affected by the Tuesday decision and the amounts that will be assessed: Route 5 and Highway 29 North, Oscar Dunnavant, $2,500; 104 Hodges Street, Gladys and Mack Houston, $1,500; Lot 15 on Madison Avenue, Roosevelt McCullough, $1,480; Lot 14 on Madison Avenue, Ronnie Barnes and Cynthia Lewis, $740; 417 Walters Street, Willie Hall, $1,240; 125 Boyd Street, Rachel Mae Pugh Young, $750; 113 Carrol Street, Allen and Sammy T. Smith, $3,000.

In other business, the council:

· Heard the concerns of Johnnie Mae Money, who with her daughters wants to open a group day care for children up to age 5 on Montgomery Street and is being denied by the Troy Board of Adjustments and Appeals. Money alleged the board members are "hindering free enterprise and social development of minorities who want to establish businesses in this area."

· Awarded Ken Cox Ford Inc. the bid for police vehicles. The bid submitted was $20,495.

· Asked Phyliss Owens, who has requested a license to open a billiards hall in the Parklane shopping center, to come before the council in an executive session to discuss items they uncovered after Police Chief Anthony Everage check on the establishment she operated in Enterprise.

"Based on the information we received, it causes great concern," Witherington said.

Owens said she "had two noise ordinance violations" during the years she operated that business. She also acknowledged an apparent violation of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board regulations, which she denied.

· Gave authority to renegotiate a loan with Troy Bank & Trust up to $250,000. That action actually extended a current loan by $170,000 in order to pay for three vehicles requested by the police and fire departments.

· Passed a resolution that will close out the northeast sewer Community Development Block Grant project that is a total of $258,857.74. The city must close out the current grant in order to be eligible to apply for another CDBG.

· Passed a resolution on the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act compliance plan, which has to be done each year.

· Held the first reading of the ordinance and resolution dealing with sales and use tax collection.